1953 Brooklyn Dodgers beat 2006 New York Mets

Using Strat-O-Matic's baseball game, I played the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers against the 2006 Mets at Shea Stadium and, to my surprise, the Bums were significantly better, beating the Queens’ men behind Carl Erskine’s quality start.

In the first inning, only three batters came to the plate for each team, no batters reaching first. 

In the second, against Steve Trachsel, Jackie Robinson’s walk was followed by Reese’s single, Hodge’s double, and Furillo’s single, giving the visitors a two-run lead. But in the bottom half of the inning, only three Dodger batters stood in the batter’s box, two flying out to center, the third grounding out to second.

Erskine, who in 1953 won 20 games and, in 1956, pitched the first nationally-televised no-hitter, was in run-prevention mode.

A lone Mets’ single was the only noise either team made in the third.

The Dodgers scored twice in their half of the fourth, Robinson doubling and Campanella homering. The Mets fought back in the bottom of the fourth, drawing three walks, but a double play and a strikeout negated their scoring opportunities. To my surprise, on April 14, 1953, Erskine walked three batters in the top of the second, the only time he did that in ‘53. No runners scored.

The fifth and sixth were 1-2-3 innings for both teams, a Dodger single the main attention-getter.

The seventh’s highlights were Erskine’s double-play grounder to end the inning before either Dodger baserunner could score and Shawn Green’s double for the Mets. The third Mets’ groundout of the inning continued Erskine’s shutout.

Gilliam’s leadoff homer in the eighth drew the Dodger fans in Shea to their feet. Two batters later, Snider doubled, but neither Robinson nor Campanella could plate Snider. The Met’s leadoff hitter, Eric Chavez, walked, but he never made it to second base.

Hodges singled, his second hit of the game, to open the ninth, but the bottom third of the Dodger order couldn’t advance him. Then, Jim Hughes replaced Erskine on the mound. Two Mets’ singles and a walk preceded David Wright’s sacrifice fly to left field. It put a run in the Mets’ slot on the scoreboard. But their attempt to threaten the Dodgers’ lead fizzled when Green grounded into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Final score: Dodgers 6, Mets 1

1953 Dodgers were a great team

Before the Mets made their major league debut in 1962, New York City had two National League teams, and if you lived in Brooklyn, that team was the Dodgers, one of the two teams the Mets “replaced,” a word I placed within quotation marks because the Mets have never been able to replace the Dodgers, especially the 1953 team, in the minds of Brooklyn Dodger fans.

On it were four players now in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, and Duke Snider. Plus others who, though not in the Hall, remain as steadfastly in the minds of Bums’ fans. Two “Carls” are among them. One is Carl Furillo, an outfielder with a cannon for an arm and Carl Erskine, a stellar starter.

During his 12-year career, Erskine only played for the Dodgers, his first 10 years in Brooklyn and his last two in Los Angeles, but then he was no longer the same pitcher. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was not Ebbets Field. There, he pitched more than 200 innings three times, came close to striking out 200 batters (in 1953 he struck out 187), and beat the Bronx Bombers twice in World Series’ games.

He appeared in one All-Star game (1954), the last pitcher in the game for the National League. He faced three batters, giving up one hit and striking out one while not allowing any runs.

His 14 strikeouts in a 1953 World Series game against the Yankees set a new record.